BBC Simpson under fire after calling Assad ‘weak rather than evil’

John Simpson was criticized after he described Bashar al-Assad as “weak rather than evil” following the fall of his regime in Syria.

On Sunday, Simpson, the BBC’s world editor, said he personally found Assad “meek” and “the opposite of the traditional dictator.”

He wrote on Sunday on weak. Personally, I found him to be gentle and eager to please – the opposite of the traditional dictator.”

But Robert Halfon, a former Tory skills minister, said: “This is a shameful tweet… Assad is the dictator who has imprisoned thousands and massacred many, many more of his own people with chemical weapons.”

Piers Morgan, the broadcaster, also condemned the comments, adding: “Try telling the people he tortured, murdered and used chemical weapons on that he’s not evil…”

An hour after posting the remark on X, Mr Simpson added: “I’m not defending Assad, I’m trying to explain the exact nature of his crimes.”

Politicians who had previously warned against British action against Assad remained silent after the fall of the regime on Saturday evening.

Emily Thornberry, chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, described Assad as a “murderous tyrant,” although she said in 2018 that his popularity in Syria had been underestimated.

Ms Thornberry said on Sunday: “We can only celebrate the end of the reign of a murderous tyrant who waged the most brutal wars against his own people.” The question we must also ask ourselves in these moments of celebration is what what happens next?”

In 2018, she had told Prospect magazine: “I think there was deep and broad support for Assad that was underestimated… There is an argument that he would have been as overwhelmingly unpopular as the rebels told the West . “from the start, then he wouldn’t be there”.

At the time, she and Jeremy Corbyn, the then Labor leader and now an independent MP, were criticized for their response to a chemical attack on Douma in 2018, which the US, France and Britain concluded was carried out by the Assad regime became.

At the time, Corbyn said: “The terrible deaths and injuries in Douma point to a chemical attack that must be fully investigated by the United Nations and those responsible held to account.” The need to restart real peace negotiations and a political solution in Syria could not be more urgent.”

Meanwhile, George Galloway, a former MP for the Workers Party of Britain, said on Sunday that the fall of the Assad regime meant that “the last citadel of Arab dignity has fallen”. He described the former president as “a breath of fresh air” in 2005.

On Sunday Sir Keir Starmer hailed the fall of President Assad’s “barbaric” regime as he flew to the region, echoing the words of Angela Rayner who said the former leader was “not exactly good for the Syrian people”.

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